Eating for two, cooking for three

One of the old wives tales about pregnancy is that you can tell if you're having a boy or a girl based on the kind of food you crave. Salty foods mean boy and sweet food means girl. It's not accurate at all, but if it were true, I'm definitely having a boy. I want ALL THE SALT. Pregnancy is nuts, y'all.

Ohhhh, nuts.  Good thing I've got cashews and almonds at my desk!

Anyway, the first trimester and I couldn't keep anything down at all. My sweet husband has to fend for himself in the kitchen. He ate his meals on the other side of the room from me so I didn't have to smell anything. He obliged my nausea and changed the channel when commercials with any food came on TV. He cleaned bathrooms. He did everything that involved any kind of scent because my stomach couldn't handle it. I existed on crackers and water.

Now at 18 weeks, I have more energy and I enjoy being in the kitchen again. However, I WANT to be healthy when I can and still indulge in some crazy cravings now and then. After all, no one should stand in the way of a pregnant lady and her ice cream cravings!

The challenge is cooking something that sounds good, that I have in my kitchen AND that both my husband and I will eat. Neither of us are especially picky eaters, but he doesn't eat onions and is particular about a few veggies. I can't do olives of any kind and, let's face it, what I'll eat changes daily, sometimes hourly. What DOESN'T change, however, is how I feel after a healthy meal vs. how I feel after a greasy meal full of empty calories.

So I went the easy way and checked out Pinterest. I found a great recipe and added the necessary items to the grocery list. The recipe was for Black Bean Quinoa Veggie Burgers. This is not in my husband's wheelhouse of typical meals, guys. Nor mine, really, but veggie burgers are actually super good and I need to eat them more often. If I ever bought them before, it was the Morningstar brand in the frozen food section. Not bad at all! Until yesterday, I'd never made them myself so I was a little nervous about how they'd turn out.

I've posted the recipe on my recipes tab, so make sure you check that out for the whole thing. Since this is the first time I made this recipe, I followed it to the letter. But because part of the fun of cooking is making it up as you go along, I will be making a few slight adjustments next time I make them.

The best part about this recipe is that it's got TONS of flavor. If you're a meat lover, it's probably because you get a LOT of flavor from it. You can get the same satisfaction from meatless meals also!

The worst part about this recipe is that there are a lot of ingredients and I don't use all of one item. For example, it calls for tomato paste...only 2 Tablespoons. No problem, but then I have the majority of a can of tomato paste left to use elsewhere.

This con has little bearing, however-- because these things are GREAT. AND I have leftovers!

Making an effort to eat outrageously healthy pays off! Check out the recipe tab for the details!